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So soon after it was unexpectedly issued late Sunday, "To Pimp a Butterfly," the new record by Compton-raised rapper and lyricist Kendrick Lamar, is still settling in, less a voluminous whole than a germinal swirl of phrases, grooves, bass lines and themes both personal and political working to find purchase. "I got a bone to pick!" "I went to war last night." The bounced-beat chants of "King Kunta!" "Obama say what it do?" The dance hall hook in "The Blacker the Berry"; the revelatory last verse of "For Free." The frantic strangeness of "u," which features a raw-throated performance worthy of Martin...

Related "Nas" Articles

So soon after it was unexpectedly issued late Sunday, "To Pimp a Butterfly," the new record by Compton-raised rapper and lyricist Kendrick Lamar, is still settling in, less a voluminous whole than a germinal swirl of phrases, grooves, bass lines...

He won top honors over other, more relevant acts. He represents the tastes of older Recording Academy voters. His most innovative work is a decade-plus behind him.
As Beck was being shamed by Kanye West for winning album of the year on stage at the...

Jhene Aiko, her agent and her manager are huddled together on a recent afternoon going over upcoming gigs for the buzzing alternative-R&B star.
The Los Angeles native is in the middle of a victory lap for a breakout year that included her first hit...

Kendrick Lamar debuted an untitled new song during "The Colbert Report" on Tuesday night, capping the show’s nine-year run of musical guests with a devastating, slow-build track that equaled his memorable performance of “I” a few months back...

Nasir Jones' rise from the housing projects of Queensbridge in New York to the top of the rap game is at the center of the film "Nas: Time Is Illmatic." The documentary celebrates the 20th anniversary of the prolific emcee's debut,...

Two decades have passed since the release of Nas' seminal debut album, "Illmatic," in which the hip-hop artist chronicles brutal inner-city life with a mix of autobiography, journalism and poetry. The album creates a near-cinematic vision,...

NEW YORK -- The 1990s were a rich period for hip-hop, a time that saw the emergence of groups ranging from A Tribe Called Quest to N.W.A to Wu-Tang Clan (depending, of course, on which coast you favored).There was no artist more influential in that era...

Courtney Barnett, "The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas" (Mom + Pop Music)
Courtney Barnett writes assured, smart songs packed with detail and delivered through the voice of a writer who seems to have discovered some sort of hidden secret. It's...

When Jhene Aiko sang the opening lines of her Drake collaboration “From Time” during her set Sunday night at Coachella in Indio, the crowd -- singing the bone-chilling lyrics back to her -- knew what was coming next.The Gobi tent was already lighted up by...

As the second and final weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was in full swing, Lauren Mayberry of rising electro-pop trio Chvrches assured attendees that they had made the right choice. "You guys are lucky," she said midset...

Nas is hustling.
On Saturday night, the veteran New York rapper is scheduled to perform at Coachella, just days before the April 15 release of "Illmatic XX," a 20th-anniversary reissue of his much-loved 1994 debut.
On April 16, he'll do...

If the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival guarantees festival-goers anything, aside from wickedly high temperatures, it’s this: Leave your expectations outside the gates.
As the festival kicks off Friday, much of the buzz undoubtedly will be...

Nas, Jay Z and Diddy hit the stage together at Coachella to celebrate a landmark hip-hop album.
Twenty years ago Nas, a hungry 20-year-old emcee from New York's tough Queensbridge projects, issued his debut, “Illmatic.”
The album, with its stark...

INDIO — As a giant impenetrable scrum of attendees waited for New Zealand singer Lorde, 17, to take the Outdoor stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Nearby, MGMT played the main stage, and the chorus of its song "The Youth"...

INDIO — The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has been referred to by some as Bro-chella since at least 2008, when the annual desert gathering featured such dude-friendly headliners as Jack Johnson and Roger Waters.
The latest edition, which ran...

How much legwork does pop stardom require?
Next weekend Aloe Blacc will appear along with some of music's buzziest acts — OutKast, Haim, Skrillex, Lorde — at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the idyllic annual gathering near Palm Springs...

When it comes to Lauryn Hill, expect to wait.
Fans of the acclaimed neo-soul singer are still holding out for a proper studio follow-up to the 1998 Grammy-dominating LP “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” In a 2012 note on her Tumblr, she said she...